Doug Allan

Research Associate

Corning Incorporated

23 August 2001

Marc Brodsky (via e-mail)

CEO and Executive Director

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse

College Park, Maryland 20740

Dear Marc,

I have just learned of the firing of Jeff Schmidt from Physics Today. My facts come only from email and the Web, so I recognize I probably don't have the full story. Nevertheless, the part I have read makes me disappointed and concerned.

I don't like to tell you what to do, Marc, because I have known you for many years and recognize that you are deeply committed to the physics community. I hope you can resolve this problem, and hopefully reinstate Jeff Schmidt, without doing damage to freedom of speech. Physicists, of all people, should honor differences of opinion and healthy debate.

Thank you for your work on behalf of physics.

Regards,

Doug Allan

(Opinions are my own, not necessarily those of Corning Incorporated.)